Monday, March 28, 2011
Of Winter Rides and Broken Frames
During December of 2010 I was trying to get in a few rides when I could. One Thrusday I cut out of work a little early to get my goto 12 mile loop ride in. It was sunny out though a litlle chilly probalby in the upper 30's. So off I went climbing up Springville and then headed west on Skyline, zipping along all bundled up in winter atire, showerspass jacket, leg warmers and arm warmers and proably a t-shirt and jersey and of course gloves.
I was going along fine enjoying the low evening sun and figuring on being home well before dark, maybe a turn up Old Germantown for another little climb... However it wasn't to be and my fun little ride soon came to an abrivated end... I was rolling along and
Monday, March 14, 2011
How not to shift gears
So within the first month or so of being a happy Volpe owner I headed down the road on my favorite 12 mile loop ride. I made it up the first hill and then was heading up the second hill. At that time climbing a hill was a pretty big deal for me. I was just learning how to shift properly and needless to say I didn’t understand that you really need to shift prior to needing to shift. You see a derailleur works best when the chain is passing through it quickly when moving slowly the rear derailleur struggles to move the chain to a different cog. Don’t even think about shifting the front derailleur with low revs on the crank, it may happen but your poor front derailleur won’t like it one bit!
So on that fateful day up the horse farm hill I went, nearing the top it gets really steep and I found that I needed to down shift in order to keep moving, think turtle speed and you’ll have an idea how fast I was going. So I clicked away on my front derailleur and with a gnashing of teeth and chain things began to happen very slowly. Note it is really a bad idea to change gears when hardly moving and applying max torque to your crank arms which for me is about 144 ft lbs of torque, which is really good! Lots of cars barely make that much torque though I only produce about .5hp but that is a whole different story. Anyway at 144 ft lbs of torque and fighting gravity components start to fail…. And thus I found out what it is like to break a chain. Just as that happened the local home owner Jeff took notice of me and came over to see what was going on. He was nice enough to offer me a ride home in his ’76 ford pickup which I graciously accepted.
Of course the next day I went up to the Neighborhood LBS, located just a few minutes from my house and got 2 SRAM replacement links which are great! I installed a new link in just a minute or two and had my chain back together and was ready to roll again. Or so I thought. Turns out my front derailleur was a bit out of whack as well. After a few minutes of tinkering with it I decided the complex two screw adjustment system might as well have been a Swiss watch and gave up. So I loaded the bike up and took it down to the store I bought the bike from for them to fix it. After all they did do lifetime derailleur and brake adjustment free of charge! I’m really glad I brought it to them instead of my N-LBS as it turned out there was much more wrong then I knew. First of the front derailleur wasn’t out of adjustment it had actually pivoted on its mounting ring and was completely out of place. Once the mechanic corrected that issue he spun the crank a bit and informed me that my crank was also bent and I would need a new one of those as well.. He promptly informed me that Bianchi’s warranty was completely junk and they would say that I’m a big guy and that was the reason the crank bent. But he said they sold a lot of Bianchi’s and thus he would just put it through on warranty and get me a new crank seeing as it was only a month old. After a few days they called and it was ready so I went down and picked it up. They got me an upgraded crank to a Tiagra triple which was pretty sweet as it was now a 52-42-30 instead to the Sugino XD500T which was a 48-38-28 and made of recycled beer cans. So I got a better crank and can now go a lot faster owing to the larger chain rings. He also told me that additionally I had bent the rear derailleur hanger but thankfully it was a steal frame so they were able to just bend it back. All of that and no charge! I should have just left the chain broke as well!
Friday, March 11, 2011
First Rides
After getting my bike home I did what everyone should do: I jumped in my car and went out to explore a bike route! Of course, that's what you SHOULD do! So, I drove out from my house out Kaiser road and on to Skyline and then back down Springville and to home. It wasn’t far--just about 12 miles--and though it had some hills it didn’t seem so bad at all. Sometime there after I went for my first bike ride. I put on my fancy Sidi bike shoes, unaware of the need to learn to clip in--and the critical skill of unclipping--nor the proper timing that goes along with unclipping. I think it was a Saturday that I went on my first real bike ride. I started out Saturday morning and started up Kaiser road. I remember the first hill; it climbs maybe 30’ or so in total elevation spread over 100 yards or so. I started up that little hill and to this day use it as my measure of how in shape I am. When I’m in good shape, I climb it with no issues at all, but it is a little work when I haven’t ridden in awhile. So anyway I climbed that first hill and then was over the top and racing down and along to the first turn with a second little climb. Up I would go an even shorter little climb but no less daunting to a new cyclists. Having met that challenge I would continue on and then fly down the big curving descent on Kaiser road. Only to come up against the indomitable challenge of climbing up Kaiser to the intersection with Germantown Road. In those first rides and the months to come I would have to drop down into my triple chain ring and pedal for all I could to climb up the hill to the top. Once at the top you weren’t done as Germantown road is crowned and you would have to come to a stop on a steep hill prior to climbing over to crown on Germantown, before getting to the relatively flat relatively short part of Kaiser as it passed in front of the horse farm/stables. Once past the stables the climb started again. On the first ride I remember struggling up the sweeping climb cranking endlessly in my little chainring and big cog as I climbed my way up the hill. Along the way you had to avoid clumps of cement and black top that had spilled off a truck years ago leaving little speed bumps that though were only 4” in diameter were impossible to avoid as I wobbled up the hill struggling to keep going and to keep the front wheel on the ground! Cresting that hill there is a delightful old farmhouse and what was a cool old barn. Perhaps I’ll write about the barn again in a future post. Anyway passing the barn you continue on the road and get back to the climb up another short climbing/turning hill. Finally reaching the first nice flat / down hill bit of road since Springville. I remember there was this crazy big Holstein steer grazing in the field in front of a field of grape vines and a large house set way back from the road. The Holstein is still out there some 5 years later grazing and living a good all be it oversized life. He is the biggest poor old Holstein I’ve ever seen, no doubt the experiment of a “tax shelter” farmer turned pet. Poor guy has no friends, no pasture companions just himself grazing in the field living a life of solitude life grazing in the field. Well after the steer you zip down the road cranking hard and spinning in the big chainring before making a big right turn only to be confronted with another climb up a seemingly endlessly step hill. On that first ride I was able to make it to the top of the hill. Following close along the side of the ride, all the while looking down into the ditch lined with sharp broken rock and dreading the time when I certainly would fall in undoubtedly getting all cut up bruised and broken. That day I was able to make it to the top of that hill but upon reaching the top I was completely worn out and unable to go on, so I turned back for home. Going home was much easier than going out, unfortunately you still however need to climb the steep Kaiser road hill, which is quite steep and goes around a blind corner with no shoulder. I made it home that day and was quite happy though sad that I didn’t make it around my whole 12 mile loop. I put the Volpe in the garage resolved to try again.
In the beginning
It was March of 2006 and I was shopping for a bicycle. I really didn't know much about bikes or cycling at the time but was all set to get a bike I could comute to work on. So I went down to my local bike shop Rivercity Cycle. I had previously checked out a few bikes there and for some reason came to the conclusion that I needed to buy a Bianchi. Originally I was interested in the Castro Valley but didn’t like it as it had fenders and a front dyno hub! Certainly neither of those were very cool and I wanted something fast! So I went with the Volpe which the salesman told me was the same frame as the Castro Valley but it would be faster! I had never even ridden a 10-speed style bike before and had no idea where to put my hands on the handlebars, having graduated from my Schwinn Cruiser to a mountain bike. So after going for a brief test ride along the East Bank Esplanade I was convinced. I went back to the shop and placed an order for a bike. Within a week or two my new bike arrived at the shop and I was told it was ready to go. So I went down and picked it up. They also set me up with a helmet and a pair of shoes! Now shoes are kind of a big deal for me. You see, I don’t have easy feet to fit being they are size 52 euro or size 16 for all those of us on the western side of the pond. When the sales guy brought out 3 different pairs I was blown away! Usually when I buy one pair of shoes, I buy whatever I can find as I generally don’t find size 16s at the local store. So anyway, they sold me a pair of Sidis and I was out the door. I think total cost for the bike, shoes and helmet was about $1000 during their March sales event. And thus began my love/hate relationship with my Gang Green Bianchi Volpe.
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